HMCo #936s No. 8

"[1925-04-02] Thu 2: [Thermometer] 50 - 74 [degrees]. Very fine. Had race of 9 - [Biscayne Bay] 14' skiffs [apparently #924s, #925s, #926s, #927s, #928s, #929s, #935s, #936s and #937s] in which Com. Munroe won. I came in 5th. ...
[1925-04-04] Sat 4: Another fine race of 14' skiffs in p.m. in l[igh]t SSE wind. 11 boats [probably #924s, #925s, #926s, #927s, #928s, #929s, #935s, #936s, #937s, #938s and #946s] entered. Won by school boys. We took out [probably in #907s Pleasure] Halsey Chase and daughter Reba [the future Mrs. Sidney Herreshoff]. Mr. Farrally [the owner and editor] of Bristol Phoenix [newspaper], [NGH’s wife] Ann & Margaret Nystrom. Chas. Nystrom went to Palm Beach for over night." (Source: Herreshoff, Nathanael G. Diary, 1925. Manuscript (excerpts). Diary access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff.)

"N. G. Herreshoff "Fair Haven" Cocoanut Grove, Florida April 16, 1925. {1925/04/16} Dear Francis, ... The shop built a class of 12 - 14 ft- sailing skiffs for the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club. This winter (+ spring). and they have prooved a great success -- being safe fast and able and handle beautifully. They are ballasted and have an air - tight compartment. & c.b. [centerboard] - so they only draw 12". - a necessity here." (Source: Mystic Seaport Museum, L. Francis Herreshoff Collection, Box 17, Folder 1: Letter from N. G. Herreshoff to L. F. Herreshoff.)

"... Captain Nat was now getting too old to do much work, but he did design a class of small sailboats for the shallow waters of Florida." (Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. The Wizard of Bristol. The Life and Achievements of Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, together with An Account of Some of the Yachts he Designed. New York, 1953, p. 312.)

"Nat Herreshoff's latest is a 14-foot sailing skiff for one design classes. The boats are built and carried in stock by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. at Bristol, R. I., and sell complete for $400. The design has been adopted by a number of yacht clubs and a class of twelve is now building for delivery in Florida. [With photo.]" (Source: Anon. "Herreshoff One Design Class." The Rudder, March 1925, p. 126.)

"Miami, Fla., April 10. [1925] --- The ambition of the yachting fraternity of Biscayne bay to revive the regattas that were so popular in the days before the railroad opened South Florida, has already grown to large proportions. The twelfth special type Herreshoff designed racing boat is shortly expected to arrive from Bristol, R. I.
All the boats are made from designs by Captain N. G. Herreshoff, who is internationally known as the designer of the American Cup defenders and who is now a regular winter resident of Cocoanut Grove, with a home on the R. M. Monroe property next to the Biscayne Yacht club.
With twelve of the racers as a nucleus, owned in Cocoa Nut Grove and Miami, the prospect of a larger fleet is encouraging, according to Commodore R. M. Monroe, considering the great number of vacationists who like to spend their leisure on the bay, and who will welcome the opportunity of sporting cruises.
The Florida-Adirondack school is especially interested in the project, and three of the boats are owned by pupils or masters of the school. Mrs. Paul Ransom, who with her husband arrived in Cocoanut Grove to live in the Old Peacock Inn, while sailing ships brought the lumber for the original school building from Key West, declared that a large part of the plan in founding the school was the life on the bay that was accessible to the boys, a useful talent as well as a sporting recreation. For many years regattas at Cocoanut Grove were the social event above all others in South Florida, and Mrs. Ransome is intensely interested in the revival which has already begun. Other boats in the fleet are owned by W. J. Matheson, H. M. Matheson, and T. H. Kite-Powell of Cocoanut Grove. ..." (Source: Anon. "Boats Designed by Herreshoff in Biscayne Bay. Yachting Fraternity has Ambitions to Revive Colorfol Regattas of Other Days." The Buffalo Morning Express, Saturday, April 11, 1925, p. 12.)

"... While in Miami we made several calls on Capt and Mrs N G Herreshoff, who are spending the winter in 'Coconut Grove' a little suburb of Miami, and found them very pleasantly situated. In fact it is an ideal location for a man of Capt Nat's well known retiring and studious disposition. They are living in a bungalow on the shore of Biscayne Bay, with a background of tropical trees and plants , including orange, lemon, banana, cocoanut, grape fruit, avocado, pear, olive, mango, etc. not to mention many varieties of palm trees, or the ever-present mangrove tree, which when left to itself, forms a tangled forest everywhere in Florida. In fact if one did not know the location, it would be hard to realize that back of the jungle there is a clearing near the shore where are located several dwellings. The nearest neighbor of the Herreshoffs is Commodore Munro, who owns all the property, and is an elderly 'sea dog,' who proves to be a very companionable associate for 'Capt. Nat.' He has loaned the used of a good sized work shop to the great yacht designer and here Capt. Nat spends most of his time shaping models of yachts of various sizes and designs. It may be interesting to note that being familiar with the waters of that section Capt. Nat designed and had built at the boat shops here before he left Bristol last fall a little sloop 14 feet over all and five feet beam with a draft of only two feet without the use of the centerboard [#908s Biscayne Bay Class Prototype]. The small draft of the boat is due to the fact that the waters all around Miami are very shallow and one must sail out several miles in order to find 10 or 12 feet of water. Such is the Herreshoff reputation that Capt. Nat had only to show the design of the little racer to his friend the Commodore in order to make a sale and when the boat arrived and was exhibited, various men interested in the 'Adirondack School for Boys,' which is located near Coconut Grove, ordered duplicate boats, until no less than 14 have been constructed at the Herreshoff works here and shipped to Coconut Grove. At the time we were there eleven of these diminutive racers [probably #924s, #925s, #926s, #927s, #928s, #929s, #935s, #936s, #937s, #938s and #946s] had arrived and we had the good fortune to see all of them in action in a race in Biscayne Bay. [This must have been on April 4, 1924 when NGH reported the race in his diary and that he had taken out the Bristol Phoenix writer.]
The boats were sailed by young boys from the school, who proved to be adepts at the sport, so much so that only a few seconds separated the first, second and third boats at the finish line, and the others were not far behind.
We followed the little racers in Cat Nat's 27-foot cruising sloop 'Pleasure,' [#907s] and had a fine opportunity to note the capabilities of the small craft. The owners of the boats have donated the use of them to the boys of the school as a reward of merit for excellence in studies, and the rivalry among the youngsters is keen not only in the class room but on the water. ..." (Source: Anon (J. F. Farrally, owner and editor of the Bristol Phoenix). "The Miami of Today. Sights and Scenes in and About the City as Noted by the Editor During a Month's Stay In That Southern Metropolis." Bristol Phoenix, April 28, 1925, p. 1, 4.)

"R.M. Munroe, Coconut Grove, Florida
June 15th 1925
Dear Herreshoff,
... The [Biscayne Bay] 14 footers had another race in hard rain & wind squalls, couldn't find their marks right off but all finished in good shape with full sail throughout. They are certainly some little ships. ...
All send regards,
[R.M. Munroe.]" (Source: Munroe, R.M. [Letter to N. G. Herreshoff.] Herreshoff Marine Museum Correspondence, Folder 84 (new), 102 (old). Access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff. June 15, 1925.)

'R.M. Munroe, Coconut Grove, Florida
July 17th 1925
My dear Herreshoff,
... Wish you could have seen the sailing race [in the Biscayne Bay 14 footers] yesterday p.m. Reefing breeze, all but our [No] 6, had one R[eef] in mainsail, the other carried full sail round. Wind S, squally, several times all the fleet was shut in by rain & to see them go into & out was great. These boats are the most reliable little craft I've ever had to do with. There is but one fault to find & that's nothing to do with design. The frames are too weak at the bilges & by next Winter will have to be rebuilt at this point. I feel also that added air tank capacity and the present fore peak tank made more reliable as to leakage should be attended to. So far as our youngsters are concerned or even most of the others, there's little to fear but the very ableness of these little ships might lead to trouble & spoiling of the sport.
Wirth with Miss Agnes came in first yesterday with Catlow & Patty second with Matheson about midway. Six of them well handled[?] all throughout and soaked completely but delighted. ...
Sincerely,
[R.M. Munroe.]" (Source: Munroe, R.M. [Letter to N. G. Herreshoff.] Herreshoff Marine Museum Correspondence, Folder 84 (new), 102 (old). Access courtesy of Halsey C. Herreshoff. July 17, 1925.)

"1925. ... Herreshoff's had all the firm could handle. By the end of March the seven [sic, i.e. five?] S boats for Bar Harbor [#909s Mab, #910s Albatross, #911s Elinor, #912s Emily II, #913s Spray] were nearly finished, they were building two of the Herreshoff 15-footers to be used at Newport [probably #997s Nabob II and #998s Nancy]; the Alden designed S boat [#931s Nassau] for a Chicago yachtsman was planked and ready to be turned over and set on her keel; twelve 14-foot sailing skiffs [#924s-#929s, #935s-#938s, #946s, #947s], the same as N. G. Herreshoff had taken to Florida the year before but with centerboards instead of fin keels, had been shipped to the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, and they had orders for two 50-foot auxiliary schooners, Harlequin [#934s] and Rofa [#933s], for New Bedford men. ..." (Source: Davis, Jeff. Yachting in Narragansett Bay. Providence, 1946, p. 25.)

"N/A"

"[Item Description:] HMCo Plan HH.5.10540 (130). Blueprint sailplan with midship section and plan view titled '14ft Sailing Skiff [Biscayne Bay 14 Class: #924s, #925s, #926s, #927s, #928s, #929s, #935s, #936s, #937s, #938s, #946s, #947s, #950s, #951s]'. This blueprint was made for NGH by HMCo on March 14, 1925 as per the original plan at MIT. On verso pencil note '14ft skiffs'." (Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. (creator). Blueprint. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Acc. 2004.0001.0044. WRDT08, Folder 5, formerly MRDE09. 1924-10-31.)
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"[Item Description:] Penciled table titled '[Time] Allowances of A-Fl [Adirondack-Florida] School Races, Spring 1929'. With tabulated data for 'Name', 'Length o.a', 'Length w.l., with crew', 'Mean length', 'Sal area', 'Rating Boston Y.C. Rule', 'Rating Seawanhaka Rule' and various allowance scenarios for four boats: '14 footers [Biscayne Bay 14 Class: #924s, #925s, #926s, #927s, #928s, #929s, #935s, #936s, #937s, #938s, #946s, #947s, #950s, #951s]', 'Development Class [probably Atkin-designed Suicide boats]', 'Star Class' and 'WATER LILY [#982s]'. With calculations. On both sides of envelope from Cruising Club of America to NGH in Bristol that had been forwarded to him to Coconut Grove, FL, postmarked Mar[ch] 2 [1929]." (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. (creator). Penciled Table. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE15_01310. Folder [no #]. 1929-03.)
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Note: This list of archival documents contains in an unedited form any and all which mention #936s No. 8 even if just in a cursory way. Permission to digitize, transcribe and display is gratefully acknowledged.

Type: J & M
Length: 14'
Owner: Matheson, H. M.

Source: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. "A Partial List of Herreshoff Clients." In: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Herreshoff Yachts. Bristol, Rhode Island, ca. 1931.

• No8 Biscayne Bay 14
• Note: The L. Francis Herreshoff index cards comprise a set of some 1200 cards about vessels built by HMCo, with dimensions and / or ownership information. Apparently compiled in the early 1930s, for later HMCo-built boats like the Fishers Island 23s or the Northeast Harbor 30s are not included. Added to in later decades, apparently by L. F. Herreshoff as well as his long-time secretary Muriel Vaughn and others. Also 46 cards of L. F. Herreshoff-designed vessels. The original set of index cards is held by the Herreshoff Marine Museum and permission to display is gratefully acknowledged.

Name: No name
Type: 14' J & M
Owner: H. M. Matheson
Row No.: 806

Source: Herreshoff, L. Francis. "Partial List of Herreshoff-Built Boats." In: Herreshoff, L. Francis. Capt. Nat Herreshoff. The Wizard of Bristol. New York, 1953, p. 325-343.

Year: 1925
E/P/S: S
No.: 0936
Name: No. 8
LW: 14'
CB: y
Amount: 430.00
Last Name: Matheson
First Name: Hugh M.

Source: Vermilya, Peter and Maynard Bray. "Transcription of the HMCo. Construction Record." Unpublished database, ca. 2000.

Note: The transcription of the HMCo Construction Record by Peter Vermilya and Maynard Bray was performed independently (and earlier) than that by Claas van der Linde. A comparison of the two transcriptions can be particularly useful in those many cases where the handwriting in the Construction Record is difficult to decipher.

"Dimensions from construction plan 76-145." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. December 11, 2014.)

"The BB14s did not have a sail track. Instead, the mainsail was bent with a spiraling lace line to the mast below shroud attachment. Above, it was set free flying with the halyard passing through a hole at the top of the mast." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. October 18, 2015.)

"N/A"

"Contract date and month were estimated from preceding entry in construction record." (Source: van der Linde, Claas. February 10, 2011.)

"[Sail area 125sqft.]" (Source: Herreshoff, N.G. Penciled table titled '[Time] Allowances of A-Fl [Adirondack-Florida] School Races, Spring 1929'. Halsey C. Herreshoff Collection at the Herreshoff Marine Museum Item MRDE15_01310. Ca. 1929-03.)

"... destroyed in a hurricane and the keels were taken to Lignamvitae Key and used as moorings. [Note that the year is unknown. It may have been the hurricane Sept. 18, 192 Great Miami Hurricane or the Labor Day 1935 Florida Keys Hurricane, both at the time among the most destructive hurricanes ever to hit the U.S.]" (Source: Matheson, Michael (grandson of Hugh Matheson). Private Email to Maynard Bray, December 5, 2014.)

Note: Research notes contain information about a vessel that is often random and unedited but has been deemed useful for future research.